Banning social media trolls from voting could help reduce the amount of abuse faced by politicians, the election watchdog has said.

The Electoral Commission says legislation around elections should be reviewed and new offences could be introduced.

In the commission’s submission to a committee on standards in public life inquiry into the intimidation of political candidates, officials say many offences under electoral law date back to the 1800s or earlier.

They say some electoral offences can result in an offender being disqualified from voting or from registering to vote. Such deterrents could be considered to stop abusive people, the submission says.

“In some instances electoral law does specify offences in respect of behaviour that could also amount to an offence under the general, criminal law. It may be that similar special electoral consequences could act as a deterrent to abusive behaviour in relation to candidates and campaigners,” it states.

What they are calling “social media abuse” is just plebs talking back. This is about outlawing and suppressing political dissent.

Politicians need to remember that democracy is the mechanism we invented to avoid civil war. It is a set of rules that allows us to resolve our disagreements by talking instead of fighting. If you don’t allow people to talk, before long they will go back to the old ways of doing things.